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Kali
Kālī (/'ka:li/; Sanskrit: काली, also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका) is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment (shakti). She is the fierece aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). The name Kali come from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death: Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla—the eternal time—the name of Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Hence, Kālī is the Goddess of Time, Change, Power and Destruction. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces sill has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shakta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality, or Brahman. Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother goddess. Kali is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger. Etymology Kali is the feminine form of kalam ("black, dark coloured"). Kala primarily means "time" but also means "black" in honor of being the first creation before light itself. Kali means "the black one" and refers to her being the entity of "time" and "beyond time." Kali is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kala (an epithet of Shiva) to come from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli" referring to Devi Parvathi being a manifestation of Devi MahaKali. Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kali can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color. Kali's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who manifested after her in creation, and who symbolises the rest of creation after Time is created. In his supreme awareness of Maya, his body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kali is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī. Origins Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kali appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the ''Kathaka Grhya Sutra ''(19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the god of fire, in the ''Mundaka Upanishad ''(2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kali in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the ''Mahabarata ''(10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kali as the ultimate reality. According to David Kinsley, Kali is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usuallyplace her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield". She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature. Worship and mantra Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentile'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra or worship is called Devi Argala Stotram. : Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥ (Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē. : Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durga kṣamā śivā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)